GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – A long layoff from competition and a demanding training trip to Florida didn’t prevent the Phoenix from performing well on Saturday afternoon, as the Green Bay men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams picked up Horizon League dual victories over UIC at the Peter F. Dorschel Natatorium.

Participating in their first meet since late November, the Phoenix swimmers and divers followed their annual 10-day trip to The Sunshine State with a 191-106 win on the women’s side and an exciting 159-141 triumph on the men’s side. Green Bay claimed 12 of 16 women’s events to run away with the victory, while the Phoenix and Flames split the 16 men’s events, with Green Bay’s depth proving to be the difference-maker.

“I was really pleased with how we performed after coming back from a tough trip to Florida where we really trained hard,” Phoenix head coach Jim Merner said. “We haven’t really had any rest since we’ve been back, and we worked very hard in practice yesterday, so it was great to see how well we did.”

The women’s squad is still unbeaten in 2013-14, owning a 6-0 dual meet record to go along with two invite victories. The men’s squad improved to 3-2 in dual meets with the win, and picked up its first win over UIC in nearly a decade.

The men’s competition came down to the final event, with UIC needing to place both first and second in the 200 free relay in order to win. The Phoenix secured the victory with an impressive showing in the final race, as Casey Murphy (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Ben Loeffelholz (Dubuque, Iowa), Cole Hackney (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Evan Hill (Jefferson, Wis.) touched in first at 1:25.98.

Sophomore Willem Poelmans (Hasselt, Belgium) continued his strong season with two more wins, taking both the 200 free (1:43.06) and 500 free (4:45.99). Also winning two individual races was junior Ryan Korslin (Rudolph, Wis.), who claimed the 100 (57.57) and 200 (2:09.59) breaststroke events.

Other winners for the Phoenix men were Alex Jenness (Prior Lake, Minn.) in the 100 back (53.47) and Sean Leverton (Blaine, Minn.) in the 1-meter dive, accumulating an impressive score of 277.50.

Green Bay continues its stretch of four straight home meets next Friday when it hosts Valparaiso at 6 p.m. at the Dorschel Natatorium.

#

For the latest and most up-to-date information on Green Bay Athletics, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com.